Leadership Preference, Essay Example

If I were a manager, I would be most comfortable in the decisional role (Jones and George). This is because I am decisive and believe that good plans are only as effective as their actual implementation. It’s better to take actions in a timely manner because it helps prevent the problems from growing bigger. It will also encourage my subordinates to bring problems to my attention quickly because they can expect me to take immediate action. Being decisional will also open more leadership opportunities for me because effective leaders have the courage to make decisions no matter how difficult or uncertain situation they find themselves in.

As far as specific roles are concerned, I will be most comfortable with being an entrepreneur (Jones and George). I believe that sometimes the best solutions are yielded through out-of-the-box thinking because organizational resources are quite limited as compared to the challenges, thus, it is very important to use resources as efficiently as possible. Having an entrepreneurial spirit means one is always striving to find a better solution than those usually applied to particular problems. In addition, having an entrepreneurial spirit often results in greater focus on the solution than the means, resulting in a more flexible organization.

I will try several new ways to effectively manage diversity and eliminate biases and discrimination. First of all, I will organize regular cultural events where a country or cultural theme will be chose and participants will be introduced to cultural aspects such as food, documentary, and movies. In addition, employees from that particular country will speak about their culture and the attendees will be encouraged to ask questions. In addition, I will also create an online discussion board where employees will be invited to anonymously post their beliefs and ideas about particular countries or cultures so that most common stereotypes and biases could be identified. Once we know about the most common biases, we could take steps to educate employees by specifically targeting the most common stereotypes. In addition, employees from diverse cultural backgrounds will be encouraged to hang out outside work and get to know each other in an informal environment.

Reference

Jones, Gareth and Jennifer George. “Managing Diverse Employees in a Multicultural Environment.” Contemporary Management. 2010. 154.